MOBILE, Ala. — An 18-wheel tractor-trailer caught fire early Thursday after it ran over a mattress on an Alabama road, authorities said.
The driver told police that he ran over the mattress, which was on a street in Mobile, WALA-TV reported. The tractor-trailer dragged the mattress for several miles until a fire ignited under the rig, the television station reported.
There were no injuries, and the driver called 911 as soon as he saw smoke, according to WALA.
Bryanna Summers, who saw the truck burst into flames, called the incident “crazy.”
“Crazy that a mattress did that, crazy,” Summers told WALA. “People need to be more responsible with their items on their vehicles. That man could’ve died or someone else could’ve died.”
According to Mobile Fire Rescue, the tractor-trailer was carrying items for grocery stores.
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Fire crews arrived and applied water and foam to the cab and trailer, according to the fire department.
Linda Boykin, who lives across the street from where the truck stopped, told WALA that “flames were shooting up out of the cab and the trailer and they were going way up on the telephone pole over there and I could feel the heat over here.”
The vehicle was a total loss, fire officials said.